2020

Seen&Heard

Incorporating
engagement

"Amazing Audits" (September 2015) is a great article. I’m currently working on a
customer-engagement initiative. Replacing "quality" with "customer engagement"
will enable me to use portions of this report to assess how my organization is
incorporating customer engagement into our operations.

Willie DavisBristow, VA

Revision reactions

The current
standard has served us well for the last 15 years. I wonder if there would be a
revision if those of us working in the trenches every day were involved in
deciding whether a revision is necessary; deciding what to revise when it was
needed; and removing the five-year International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) rule for revision.

As far as I’m
concerned, the 2000 and 2008 versions of ISO 9001 have been superb, and the ink
has just dried on them. We are just starting to run this machine as it is and
find out what it can really do. For those of us in automotive, who are working
within a technical specification (TS) every day, we take a dim view of the new
documentation requirements.

Having worked
with ISO since 1987 and MIL-Q-9858a (a military specification for quality
program requirements) before, I’m not seeing these changes as being driven for
real improvement, but rather change for the sake of change because ISO says so.
As far as risk-based thinking goes, we have spoken the language of failure mode
and effects analysis for several years now.

Even though
you jump through all the ISO clauses, your customers are still going to audit
you. But wait, wasn’t this something we were going to get away from with ISO or
TS certification? Not here, not yet.

Joe DrueckerColumbus, IN

"Keep Calm and Prepare for ISO 9001:2015" is a well-written article in plain language that
users at all levels of familiarity can understand. I think all the contributors
have done a great job explaining various aspects of the standard, including the
implementation challenges for small businesses. Risk-based thinking is
extensively covered, which is a plus.

I would have
liked to see more content on requirements under organizational knowledge. This
is an area of opportunity for improvement for any organization.

One obvious
omission in this article is coverage of content related to ISO 9000:2015, the
"unsung hero." The ISO 9001:2015 normative reference calls out ISO 9000:2015
and describes it as "indispensable for its application." It should be
emphasized that reviewing ISO 9000 is essential to the consistent application
of the ISO 9001 standard.

Govind RamuSan Jose, CA

Tune In

The latest episode of ASQ TV explores ISO 9001:2015
certification and implementation. In the episode, learn key themes in the
revision, get how-to advice on transitioning and training, and hear tips on
choosing a certification registrar and consultant. Stay tuned for an episode on
lean and Six Sigma, available Oct. 20. Visit http://videos.asq.org to access the full
video library.